


The Figure

by Kawaiikune234



Category: Dangan Ronpa, Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, Dangan Ronpa 3: The End of 希望ヶ峰学園 | The End of Kibougamine Gakuen | End of Hope's Peak High School
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Gore, Homophobia, Horror, I'm Sorry, Internalized Homophobia, Psychological Horror, Psychological Torture, Silent Hill-esque, Torture
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-11
Updated: 2017-02-11
Packaged: 2018-09-23 13:35:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,209
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9659612
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kawaiikune234/pseuds/Kawaiikune234
Summary: I’ve been with you for years now, Sakakura, why are you asking me who I am?





	

The sun was shining brightly that day.

Yukizome Chisa skipped down the sidewalk slowly to her destination ahead, careful not to leave behind her friends, but her excitement keeping her a few feet ahead. Not too far behind walked Munakata Kyosuke, and behind him: Sakakura Juzo.

Sakakura watched as Yukizome stopped and went back to tug on Munakata’s hand, urging both him and Sakakura to hurry up. Munakata turned and smiled back at Sakakura as well. Sakakura felt a pang of hurt at seeing the two of them holding hands like that, but was happy nonetheless. He assured them that he was hurrying. 

This happiness was natural, he thought, it was a beautiful day and he was with his two best friends, but at the same time this all seemed forced and unnatural, a weird sense of unease festering in the back of his mind.  
Where were they headed exactly? Well, that just didn’t matter. The happiness was too great, too forced. Unease grew.

He stopped. Up ahead, a silent figure stood. Despite the rays of the bright sun, this figure was completely covered in shadow, a single glowing eye shown back at him. The figure stood, unmoving. 

Time was slowing. Sakakura felt like his feet had been sucked into the pavement while Yukizome and Munakata walked ever closer to the figure in what seemed like slow motion. It didn’t even look as though they knew it was there. Unease exploded inside Sakakura, but the unreal happiness kept it down, kept him from crying out. 

Yukizome had skipped ahead again, but was pushed back by the force of running into the figure. 

Time stopped completely. Birds hung still in the air and the wind had ceased. The sun was shining brightly that day.

It was all so sudden, like a glitch. Yukizome and the figure were simply standing, staring at each other. Yukizome’s eyes suddenly lost light as a blade ripped through her torso and skull like tissue paper. 

Sakakura fell backwards at the sight. His hearing failed, all sounds replaced with a high-pitched buzz. Munakata was yelling, yelling, but Sakakura could not understand him. He continued to feel as though he was completely glued to the ground in which he stood as he saw Munakata arm himself with his own blade. He watched as Munakata ran towards the figure. He watched as the figure raised its own blade. He watched as Munakata’s head left his body and fell to the ground with a thud. 

If asked to relay what just happened, Sakakura would be unable to respond. 

The figure took a step forward. Then another. Gnarled feet slowly made their way toward him. 

Sakakura stared, a combination of disbelief and fear welled within him. Sweat poured down the sides of his face. He moved his hand against the pavement. It hit something metal. Sakakura looked. It was a small handgun.  
Maybe it was the anger at the loss of his friends or the fear for his life, but Sakakura immediately stood. And with his left hand, pointed the gun at the figure.

He fired, but the shot missed. The figure had already leapt toward him, achieving an inhumane height. The blade came down, disconnecting Sakakura’s hand from the rest of his body. 

Sakakura screamed. He fell again, clutching his empty wrist in agony. Footsteps followed. Gnarled feet stood directly in front of him. He looked up. The last thing he saw was the blade pointed at his face, and then plunge forward.

oOo

Sakakura let loose a loud gasp. He then jolted into a sitting position, clutching at the blankets on top of him, and pain suddenly wracked his midsection. Sakakura let himself fall back down onto the bed, his head hitting the thin pillow below.  
Heavy breathing. Sweat dripped off his brow. The pain slowly subsided. Sakakura took his time to get his bearings.

He was in a dark room. He assumed it was nighttime from looking out the window to his left. Although it was dark, he could still make out some vague shapes and determined that he had never been here before. He tried to focus more on the dark shapes to his right. A nightstand, a curtain, and what kind of looked like an IV? Was he in the hospital?

Sakakura tried to remember the last thing that happened to him. Yukizome, bracelets, the sun, Munakata, electricity, A silent figure. Fiction mixed itself with reality.

What truly happened? Sakakura wasn’t sure, all he knew was that Yukizome and Munakata could be dead.

There was one way to know, but Sakakura was afraid to look, Slowly, but surely, though, he lifted his left arm into his view.

His hand was missing. 

It happened. The silent figure. It happened. Yukizome. Munakata. They’re dead. They’re dead they’re dead they’re dead they’re-

Suddenly, a gnarled hand connected to a long blade grabbed his wrist. Sakakura merely looked in awe, for some reason the only thought crossing his mind was confusion about how a blade could possibly be growing out of a human hand, and then his wrist was brought down beside him.

He couldn’t move it. In fact, he couldn’t move either arm. He couldn’t move his legs. He was stuck. Stuck to the bed and that thing, that figure, was right beside him.

If the figure somehow didn’t kill him before, it would surely kill him now. 

He watched, helplessly, as the monster slowly climbed on top of him. He noticed that both the figure’s hands were connected to blades. He watched them twitch in time with the figure’s own heartbeat, like two fingerlike growths. 

The figure sat on his lower stomach, and then leaned down so that its face was inches from Sakakura’s. Sakakura tried to look away in an act of defiance, but the figure’s twisted hands came up to hold his head in place. 

Despite how close they were, Sakakura’s still could not make out the face beyond a single all-seeing eye. He watched as the figure lifted its head for a moment and opened its mouth. Its large mouth was lined with long. Sharp, blade—like teeth. Out of its mouth, from deep in its throat, came a claw-like contraption; the outside of the claws covered in spikes. The monster seemed to test this metal contraption by opening and closing it a few times, and then pulled it back into the depths of its throat. 

Sakakura could have never foreseen what happened next. The figure’s face was parallel with his again. It blinked a few times, and then leaned down and kissed him. 

It was strange. It was…actually pleasant, the kiss. It tasted like flavorless chapstick. Its breath smelled like tea. Sakakura got butterflies in his stomach. He felt his cheeks heat up. A nonhuman killer was kissing him, and yet he wasn’t pulling away. 

The enjoyment did not last long, however, as Sakakura felt something sharp try to poke itself past his lips. The pain of the poking and scratching at his lips kept him from resisting, and eventually the entire spiked claw was pushed into his mouth.

It then slowly opened. 

The pain was indescribable. The spikes on the outside of the claw shredded his gums and mouth and tongue until they began poking through the skin of his cheeks. He could feel his jaw slowly crack and break away from the rest of his skull. Blood pooled in his throat, slowly accumulating.

Sakakura thrashed and pulled, but that only caused the claw to shred him even more, and whatever force was holding his arms and legs down held strong. 

He couldn’t breathe. Sakakura tried to gasp for air, but the pool of blood in his throat had already grown too large.

He felt his consciousness waning. As darkness began to engulf him, he thought he heard a single word. Not from anyone’s mouth but within his mind:

**Liar**

Sakakura died sad and alone, choking on a pool of his own blood.

oOo

Sakakura awoke with a start, quickly sat up, and began to check his surroundings. 

A single dim light shown down from the unseen ceiling. Looking forward and back the walls were too far to see. The walls parallel to him were also far, but close enough that he could see them and see that they were covered in chipping rust. The entirety of the ground was a cold, dirty, rusty metal. Similarly gross, rusty pipes jutted from beneath the ground and traveled into the ceiling above or toward the walls. He could hear the faint sound of dropping water somewhere nearby. The entire area was damp and smelled of decay.

Was this Hell? It had to be; Sakakura would never believe he made it to Heaven. Besides, no Heaven he ever imagined would look like this. 

Come to think of it, he did die, right? He remembered the claw, and shuddered at the thought. 

He then noticed that, not far off in the distance, sat the silhouette of a chair. It was hard to make out, with all the darkness beyond the single light, but there was definitely someone sitting in it. Sakakura moved cautiously toward the person, but when the person lifted its head, revealing one brightly glowing eye, he stopped in his tracks.

It was the figure. Anger swelled from deep within Sakakura. “HEY! WHO ARE YOU!?” he bellowed, “WHAT THE HELL DO YOU WANT FROM ME!?”

From the shadowy figure came no response.

Sakakura wasn’t about to take the figure’s silence lying down. His anger was too great. If this thing was going to kill his friends and then kill him more than once, then Sakakura was going to destroy it. Besides his anger, the slim hope that his friends were somehow still alive, since he had somehow lived through two deadly occurrences, was what drove him. 

Sakakura lifted his fists and growled, “Get the hell up.”

The figure, however, did not. It showed no signs of wanting to do anything but watch, a cold anger in its eye; like it was looking down on him. 

Suddenly, before Sakakura could do anything or say anything more, a series of thumps began to sound. It sounded as if something large was running on all fours, and it was getting louder…

Sakakura looked around for a moment and then, when he couldn’t find the source of the noise, tried to prepare himself by staying in a boxing stance, but nerves told him that it was for not.

thump, thu, cla, clack

Thump, Thu, Cla, Clack

THUMP, THU, CLA, CLACK

An unknown creature suddenly leapt though the darkness from behind the chair and slammed on the ground right in front of Sakakura, a high-pitched screech emanated from it upon impact. The metal floor cracked underneath the huge beast. Sakakura fell backwards from the ground shaking.

Sakakura scrambled backwards. The creature tried to follow, but something was holding it back. Sakakura noticed a sort of leash leading from a collar on the creature’s neck back toward the chair in which sat the figure. 

Now that the creature was below the light, and the figure somehow kept the giant monster from progressing any further, Sakakura got a good look at it.

This thing was on all fours, its movements similar to that of an angry gorilla, but was most likely more than twice Sakakura’s height standing up. The creature had slim legs and feet, both of which adorned red high heels. The rest of its body was covered in a cloth-like covering that almost seemed like it was made of stretched skin. The creature’s long arms ended in huge club-like appendages, and two large, thick, pillar-like spikes were penetrating the monster’s chest and groin. Random other spikes adorned its body, but those seemed as if they had actually grown from its body, rather than getting stabbed through it. On the covering that concealed its head was a very crude drawing of a toothy skull, out of which came a few of the creature’s actual teeth that were both small and pointy. The creature must not have been able to close its mouth all the way due to what covered its head, since what looked like drool poured from the holes the teeth made. 

The beast screeched again and slammed its club appendages into the ground, cracking it more, as it continued to try to get closer to Sakakura. Sakakura stood and asked, “What? Is this your pet?” as he slowly brought his fists back up. He did not hold his ground, however, but instead began to inch backward ever so slowly. He was the best boxer in the world, or at least he was at one point in his life, but he wasn’t confident a fight would result in his victory. 

Sakakura looked back toward the figure in the chair. The figure noticed his change in focus and looked at him as well. Then it raised its hand.

One finger raised.

Two fingers raised.

Sakakura booked it into the darkness behind him. Soon after he started running, the familiar thump,thu,cla,clack started up again, and Sakakura hoped that, in the direction he was running, that there was an actual way to go.

Whatever gods presided over a place like this must have been smiling on him since, rather than a dead end, Sakakura ended up in a series of hallways that seemed to reside in impossible spaces such not intersecting when they most definitely should have. But, even though Sakakura made his way through the corridors as quickly as he could, he still couldn’t shake the monster. He did not dare take the time to look behind him, but he knew of the monster’s constant presence due to the sound of it barreling down the hallways after him not growing any quieter.

He couldn’t do this for much longer. He knew the moment exhaustion kicked in and he slowed down, the beast would surely catch up. He had to find a place to hide.

Just as he thought it, the hallway he was in expanded into a large room filled with what looked like identical abstract statures. Without thinking twice, Sakakura ran to the back of the room and crouched behind a small cluster of the statues and waited.

Thump, Thu, Cla, Clack

THUMP, THU, CLA, CLACK

…

…

THUMP, THU, CLA, CLACK

Thump, Thu, Cla, Clack

thump, thu, cla, clack

A sigh of relief escaped from Sakakura; he finally lost it. 

He glanced at the strange statues. Ring-shaped heads with large arrows sticking out toward him. Cross-shaped forearms that also ended in rings as hands. Crotch-less pelvises with legs that eventually ended in triangular feet. All of these parts were connected by ropes colored deep reds and blues, like arteries and veins. Weird. 

Now that he had a sort of down time, Sakakura had time to think about what he should do. His priority should have been to escape this fucked up place, but thoughts of his friends stopped him. What if they also woke up in this place after being killed by the shadowy figure? What if monsters like that ape beast were also chasing them? He had to save them! But what if they weren’t here? What if they were truly and utterly dead? No, he couldn’t think about that. First, he finds Yukizome and Munakata. Then, they get the hell out of here!

He glanced at the strange statures. Ring-shaped heads with larger arrows sticking out away from him. Cross-shaped forearms that-

Wait.

Sakakura jumped out of his crouched position and backed away. As he did, the three statures he was hiding behind turned their bodies around to face him, revealing partially exposed hearts implanted within their torsos, only protected by parts of their chests that formed over them like bars. The creatures turned their heads side to side as if they were trying to figure out what to make of their intruder, despite not having any sort of visible sensory organs. Every once and a while, one of the abstract statues’ heads would spasm, as if they had been twitching from some sort of damage. 

One of them mustered up the courage to approach their trespasser. As it slowly approached, Sakakura raised his fists again. He had more confidence in fighting this thing than the ape beast due to the statue’s much smaller size, but the fight never occurred.

Sakakura and the three statues all turned upon the beginnings of a series of loud noises that sounded like stone against stone. The sound seemed to be originating from two other statues that had begun to fight, and they both looked as though they were trying to destroy each other heads by whacking them with their ring-shaped hands. 

Eventually, after the two fought for a bit, one seemed to overpower the other by jamming its hands inside the opening of the other’s ring head. The losing one thrashed around in pain as the winner ripped its head straight from its body. Sakakura stared in horror and disbelief as the loser ran around like a chicken, but soon the winner caught up with it again, not finished with it yet. 

The winner rapidly ripped one of the forearms from the loser and used it to replace the losers head, the tendril like arteries that formed the neck quickly wrapping themselves its new head. Now, instead of an arrow, the ring-shaped head now dawned a cross.

The two statues left each other alone after that. The winner going to fight another one of the statues that awoke, the other simply walking around, trying to get used to the new head.

But it was for naught. The loser’s knees slowly buckled and it fell, unmoving. 

Sakakura looked around some more. He was now noticing that the unmoving statue monster wasn’t the only one. He noticed more fallen statues, all either headless or having only a partial arm and a head adorned by a cross. Arrow adorned heads also littered the room. Two of the three statues that had been near him had also started fighting. 

All this fighting amongst the statures had him thinking: why were they doing this? Why were they destroying each other like this? Why did they so desperately want to change themselves only for it to kill them in the end? 

Suddenly, two ring-shaped stones smashed themselves against his head, causing his ears to ring. As Sakakura recovered, he noticed that the abstract statue that had been approaching him previously had made its way to him while he wasn’t paying attention.  
Sakakura struggled, but it was already too late. Skin and tendons ripped. The monster pulled down sharply and tore his head from his neck, pieces of his spine coming with it. The statue let go, allowing his head to fall to the hard ground below. Sakakura saw his body, blood falling in rivers from his neck, fall to the ground as well.

And then everything went dark.

[ ](http://s345.photobucket.com/user/Brittany_Bamonte/media/2_zps4o77zxlu.jpg.html)

[](http://s345.photobucket.com/user/Brittany_Bamonte/media/1_zpsnc9h76uv.jpg.html)>

oOo

It was too bright. Sakakura’s eyes had trouble getting used to it. He could hear voices right above him. He noticed that he was lying on his back in what he presumed to be a bed. As his eyes focused he noticed two figures talking. One of them only had one eye.

He tried to get up but, once again, some unknown force was holding him down. Sakakura panicked, the memory of the claw fresh in his mind.

It was too much. Sakakura thrashed and thrashed until he felt his eyes begin to move on their own; the world suddenly looked as though the world’s worst earthquake was occurring. He grabbed the bed in an attempt to slow the world down, but it was no use.  
He couldn’t feel the rest of his body, but from the sounds of the figures around him-

Avoid his legs!

-he could only assume they, too, had a mind of their own. 

The yelling continued. He was sure he heard more people rush in. He looked, as best he could, toward the ceiling. As he did he noticed the one-eyed figure leaning over toward him, watching him. Sakakura thought, at first, that it must have been enjoying whatever was happening to him, but then he noticed its eye. Rather than the cold anger that always seemed to be behind that all-seeing eye, there was a different emotion.

Was it sadness? Worry? Regret? 

He was getting dizzy from all the movement in his eyes. He couldn’t think straight anymore. He was going to puke. Sakakura turned his head to the side and released whatever was in his stomach. He closed his eyes. 

oOo

When he opened his eyes again, the yelling was gone, and all there was, was a dark, dank room.

He was sitting in a metal chair. Sakakura tried to move, but, unsurprisingly, couldn’t. It felt as though leather straps were holding down his arms and legs. He’d look down to confirm, but he also couldn’t move his head. It was weighed down; like he was wearing some sort of heavy hat. The hat was also, most likely, connected to the back of the chair, which is why it restricted his movement. 

Sakakura took a look at his surroundings the best he could. There was nothing in the room except for the small table in front of him which held a small machine that was covered in wires that seemed to lead to his chair. Behind that, sitting in a chair, facing him, sat the figure. The familiar angry look was in its eye. 

**You’re going to take a little test. Alright?**

Was this the figure talking? It had to be, no one else was here. The voice Sakakura heard, though, did not feel as though he had heard it through his ears, but had resonated in his brain. The voice sounded distorted and monstrous, but at the same time held a sort of familiarity; as though it had been spoken through a broken computer.

**I’m going to ask you a series of questions.**

Come to think of it, that wasn’t the only familiar thing about this figure. Sakakura thought back to the sad looking figure he saw previously. Although his panic and seizing kept him from seeing the figure clearly, he did notice that, that one time, it had not been covered in shadow. 

**For each question, you’re either going to answer yes or no.**

And now that he could compare, this one had the same silhouette. Had they been the same person? Sakakura tried to think back, tried to focus on a singular image of the visible figure.

**For each incorrect answer, you will be given a small shock. Understood?**

The visible figure, the one with the sad look in its eye, in HIS eye, had that been…?

**Okay then, let’s begin.**

“Hold your damn horses!” yelled Sakakura, “You still haven’t told me what the fuck is going on! Who the hell are you!? Why are you doing this!?”

**I’ve been with you for years now, Sakakura, why are you asking me who I am?**

The figure almost sounded hurt. Sakakura should have yelled his questions again, demanded they be answered, but the figure’s own question had Sakakura taken aback.

He had remembered now. The visible figure. The sad one that had watched over him as he seized. He knew who he was but…if the shadowy figure was the same person then…?

**Sakakura?**

No there’s no way…no…but, he had to be sure.

“K…Kyousuke?” Sakakura asked.

**Ah, thank you, I’m glad you remembered me.**

It was suddenly as if the shadows had never existed. On its head, on HIS head, was the same familiar mop of silvery, well-kept hair. He wore that same white suit that Kyousuke always wore. The face was…distorted, but he could tell, behind al that distortion, was the face of the man he loved dearly. 

“K-Kyo…Munakata? What…happened? Why are you doing this?” asked Sakakura, desperation in his voice. 

**Hmm? Another question? I’m doing this because you’re thinking it. Simple as that.**

There was nothing simple about this. Sakakura didn’t understand. He’s doing it because Sakakura’s thinking it? What the hell does that mean!?

**No more questions? Can we start the test?**

Like hell those are all my questions! Sakakura wanted to say, but Munakata did not wait for an answer. He reached out with one hand and clicked a button on the machine in front of him. The machine clicked to life. Munakata then reached out and gripped a lever that stuck out from the machine in preparation.

**First question: Have you been hiding romantic feelings for me?**

Sakakura almost choked on his own spit. “What are you talking about!?” he blubbered.

Munakata said nothing. He waited patiently for an answer.

Sakakura was blushing furiously. He started, “O-of course I’m not! W-why would I-!?” but didn’t get to finish. Suddenly a large, sharp, bolt of electricity wracked Sakakura’s entire body. He wanted to scream, but it was over as soon as it began. 

Sakakura heaved, trying to recover. He shot Munakata a deadly glare. “What…what the hell…was that for?” he said between puffs of air. 

Munakata allowed the lever to swing back into place. 

**I wouldn’t keep lying if I were you, Sakakura. I already know the truth.**

What did he say? Sakakura had recovered from the electric shock, but he was still breathing heavy. His stomach hurt. He cheeks were still lit up. “H-how do you-?”

**I know because you know. Answer the question please.**

Simpler said than done. He knew the answer, he knew Munakata knew the answer, but it was still hard to truly admit. Sakakura screwed his eyebrows together, closed his eyes, and answered the most difficult question of his life, “Y…yes…”

**Thank you. Now, next question-**

Sakakura couldn’t believe how Munakata had simply brushed him off like that. A mixed bag of emotions welled up inside him: from fury to pure anguish. 

**Have you been hiding your own deviancy so I wouldn’t hate you?**

The bluntness of the question was like a slap to the face. Deviancy? Did he really think of it like that? Sakakura gave Munakata a pleading look, hoping it wasn’t true. 

**How many times must I repeat myself? I think it because you think it. Now, answer the question.**

Sakakura wasn’t one to easily give into tears, but he suddenly felt like bawling. He looked at the other boy through glassy eyes and said, “Y-yes…”

**Good. Next question: Have you ever wished that you were a girl so that, maybe, society wouldn’t see you as the sick pervert you are?**

“Yes…” Sakakura said. His voice shook. His eyes were closed. 

**You’re learning. How nice. Next question…**

He couldn’t take this anymore. Sakakura desperately needed to leave this place. No more questions, no more. Sakakura struggled again, causing a faint ripping sound. Sakakura wanted nothing more for Munakata to pull the lever again and shock him until it killed him.

But it would be no use. He would simply come back again. Sakakura never wanted absolute death more than he did now. 

**Did you lie to me about Enoshima and cause the world to end because of your own selfishness and cowardice?**

Sakakura shook. The question sparked the memory of that day in the rain to rise again. Who knew that, despite what he did, Munakata would find out about his feelings anyway?

Sakakura tried once more to resist. “Selfishness?” was all he asked.

The anger that was behind that single eye grew exponentially. Munakata’s lip raised slightly, revealing some of the pointed teeth in his mouth.

**Of course it was selfish! Think of it this way: What would be the worst outcome if you were to refuse Enoshima’s demands? Your friends would hate you, your reputation and boxing achievements would be null, and you’d be susceptible to hate crimes. How terrible, but did you notice a common thing about all of these bad occurrences? They all involve you and only you. They wouldn’t have affected anyone else. And yet, you chose to allow Enoshima to do fuck all and destroy the lives of billions of people because you were too selfish and cowardly.**

“I-I didn’t know-“

**Don’t give me that! You knew that she was dangerous! Maybe you and I couldn’t have foreseen the scale in which she would affect others, but you knew that at least one other person would suffer instead of you when you let her off the hook.**

The tears in Sakakura’s eyes were more prominent now. From under that tirade he had no idea what to do or how to respond. Of course, there were ways he could have disputed it, could have defended himself, but none came to his mind. He sat in silence, the only sounds he made was a tired moan every once in a while. 

Sakakura wasn’t sure if it was to let him recover or for Munakata to let himself recover, but Munakata took a moment before speaking again:

**Final Question: Did you deserve it when I speared my sword through your stomach?**

Sakakura’s eyes opened wide from Munakata’s words. The killing game. He forgot about the killing game. Memories of the game flooded his mind as he quickly began to remember everything.

Yukizome’s corpse on the chandelier. The bracelets. Munakata trying to hunt down Naegi while he himself tried to kill Naegi’s friends. And, as the question stated, Munakata stabbing him in the stomach, killing him.

But wait. No. That didn’t kill him. He remembered cutting of his hand to remove the bracelet. His talk with Naegi. His desperate attempt to kill the electricity to save the man he loved from that deadly game. And…he had succeeded, right? The last thing he remembered was a brief and fuzzy image of a watery-eyed Munakata before succumbing to his wounds. 

This image sparked another thought: had Munakata regretted what he did? Had he actually been sad when he saw Sakakura hanging from the electric box’s lever? 

And, if he had been, would he be here now, torturing him with an insane test?

Sakakura looked back at this Munakata’s frighteningly disfigured face as he stared back at him, waiting for his final answer.

Sparks of anger began to flourish. “…No...,” said Sakakura.

Another shock, this time longer and more painful than the last, ran through his body. 

“That’s not what I meant!” Sakakura yelled as this Munakata released the lever. “Of…of course I deserved it! I lied and lied again and I failed him. I deserved to be thrown away! What I mean is, you’re not him!”

This Munakata seemed surprised for a moment before answering:

**What do you mean I’m not him? Of course I’m him! Why wouldn’t I be!?**

Realizations began to hit Sakakura like a shower of bullets. This insane architecture, these monstrous beings. I’m doing this because you’re thinking it. I know because you know?

“This…all this…isn’t real. All this is in my head. I died in the electrical room. I should be dead but…I…”

**ENOUGH!**

As he said this, the figure bent his leg at an impossible angle and slammed his gnarled foot upon the table, knocking down the machine. He began to climb his way over the table toward Sakakura, like a spider. As he spoke his voice became more and more garbled until it was almost impossible to tell what he was saying.

**You just can’t accept that the man you so perversely pine for hates you, can you!? You can’t accept that you’re a liar! A failure! A coward! You disgust me! Now die!**

The figure was now right in front of Sakakura, and it had opened its mouth to an impossible angle. Its sharp teeth glistened with saliva, and the claw within its throat had come out and was now squirming like a prehensile tongue. 

“No, you’re wrong,” said Sakakura, “I do accept that I’m a liar, a failure, and a coward. I deserved it when Munakata tried to kill me. But, you know what? Maybe he didn’t hate me as much as I thought. Maybe he didn’t hate me as much as you said he did, or would. And there’s no way, no way, that this sick, disgusting-looking, devil in front of me is the man I…is Kyousuke.”

Sakakura balled his hand into a fist. “NOW LEAVE ME ALONE!” he screamed, and ripped his arm from the leather strap that held it. Sakakura’s punch connected with the monster’s face, sending its head flying to the side at an angle that made it seem as though the creature’s neck had snapped.

And darkness, once again, consumed his vision.

[ ](http://s345.photobucket.com/user/Brittany_Bamonte/media/3_zpsiq6w2ev0.jpg.html)

oOo

When the darkness faded, Sakakura was back in the room filled with the bits and pieces of the abstract statues. 

It was different this time though. The room was dead silent. Rather than there being a few dozen complete statues standing around in clusters or fighting, there were none, and the floor was covered in much more parts than before. 

“They all must have fought to the death,” Sakakura thought. As he kicked through the parts on his way back toward the impossible hallways, Sakakura absentmindedly picked up one of the disembodied heads on the ground. Holding it by the arrow that protruded from the ring-shaped head, he tested its weight; he determined that it would probably make a pretty decent weapon. If the ape beast or the figure came rearing their ugly heads, maybe this thing would give him a better chance at defending himself. 

Sakakura heard a scratch of stone on concrete, and instantly looked up. In front of him stood one of the abstract statues. Its head was very damaged, but, for the most part, it was still in one piece. It must have been the final one and, with no opponent, it would continue to be. 

The statue approached him cautiously, but drew back slightly when Sakakura swung his new weapon in warning.

“Get back,” demanded Sakakura, “I ain’t letting you rip my head off a second time.”

As he watched the abstract statue shift its feet around in one spot, unsure of how to proceed, Sakakura thought for a moment: all this wasn’t real, right? Of course, the pain he felt every time he died said otherwise, but it was the only way to explain these fantastical creatures and places. So, if this was all in his head, why would his mind create things such as these? He thought back to the figure, how he looked like Munakata and how it hated him passionately. He realized that this was something that he truly feared coming from the real Munakata, and was probably why his mind conjured up such a demonic presence, but…why the statues? What did they mean? 

He remembered the thought he had about them before: Why did they so desperately want to change themselves only for it to kill them in the end?

Maybe it was about change. Sakakura himself would love to change many features about himself, and it seemed that these things felt the same way. Their heads…they were the symbols of Mars. Maybe, more importantly, they were the male symbols, right? And the hands they replaced them with, they were the symbols of Venus, or the female symbol, right? 

Sakakura remembered two of the figure’s questions: 

Have you ever wished that you were a girl so that, maybe, society wouldn’t see you as the sick pervert you are?

Have you been hiding your own deviancy so I wouldn’t hate you?

A desire to change one’s sex or…sexuality? Is that what these things represented?

Sakakura sighed and crouched down so that he was at a similar height to the abstract statue. The statue seemed to watch him confusedly, its head twitching at random. 

Sakakura sighed again and said, almost to himself, “You’re right, I do want to change. Hell, I have to change, if not for my sake then for Munakata’s but…it shouldn’t be like this, huh? Is that what your trying to tell me? Is that why, after changing, you die, right? Heh, I guess it’s just like my stupid brain to tell itself that it’s wrong for loving someone, but, at the same time, telling itself that it’s okay.”

Sakakura stood, and slowly made his way past the statue pieces toward the hallways. He wasn’t paying attention, but, if he was, he’d notice that the abstract statue wasn’t following, but, rather, was simply watching him go.

“What am I saying, though?” Sakakura muttered to himself, “Changing myself for the better, huh? I’m dead, ain’t I?”

Sakakura slowly, but surely, made his way through the halls. It was difficult, considering the halls made no sense, but he tried to keep his progress by making scratches on the walls with the statue part. Finally, he found himself again in the main room, the one the figure was in.

But, this time, it wasn’t. Not even the chair was there. The room was still as dark and dank as he left it, though.

Sakakura decided that he would scour this room first for a way out, and then would go back to the hallways if he didn’t find anything. He thought he searched the hallways pretty thoroughly, but maybe he missed something.

Now that he thought of it, would there even be a place to leave his own mind? Was he actually stuck here forever?

Sakakura’s search ended before it even began.

thump, thu, cla, clack

Thump, Thu, Cla, Clack

THUMP, THU, CLA, CLACK

Sakakura turned in time to see the ape beast leave the halls and stop a few feet in front of him. It screeched and wacked the ground with its club-arms aggressively, obviously wanting to fight. 

In his walk through the hallways, Sakakura almost forgot about the ape beast. He wondered how they managed to miss each other in the halls. 

Had it been searching for him this whole time? “Hmm, how persistent…,” Sakakura mused. 

“Just like him,” he thought. He remembered his pursuit for Naegi’s friends during the killing game. How he continued to try to kill them most likely beyond the time in which Munakata had even cared about them anymore. This thing was trying to kill him because he threatened the figure. He wondered if the figure still wanted the ape beast to even do that.

“Probably wants to kill me itself,” Sakakura thought, only half-joking. 

The ape beast wasn’t about to stop, however, as he watched it prepare itself to charge. Sakakura readied his weapon and prepared himself to dodge. 

The charge was faster than he expected, and he almost didn’t make it out of the way. As the beast struggled to stop itself and turn around, Sakakura charged himself and, once he was a few steps from the monster, slammed the statue part into its head as it turned.

The beast retaliated quickly. It swung one of its arms at Sakakura, hitting him in the side. It was akin to being hit by a speeding car, and Sakakura heard a sickening crack from within him. He was then sent flying across the floor. 

Sakakura took a moment to stand again. This thing sure packs a punch, Sakakura thought, and laughed at himself for that perception. It should join a boxing tournament.

As Sakakura had stood up, grabbed his weapon, and readied himself again, the monster had moved closer and stood as well. It truly was more than twice his height, and it looked as though it could smash him like a bug underneath one of those gaudy heels of its. 

Rather than do that though, it tried to squash him with its arms. The ape beast lifted both arms and tried bringing them down on top of him. Sakakura managed to roll and avoid it. 

It looked a little unstable on two feet. Sakakura took the opportunity to get behind it as it righted itself again. Sakakura knew that this thing would most likely try to turn and swing one of its arms again, so he stuck close, like a rider trying to avoid a horse’s kick. 

The ape beast did as Sakakura predicted, and it completely missed while Sakakura continued staying close behind it. 

Sakakura looked up, above him were the back ends of the pillar-like spears that jutted out from the creature’s body. He got an idea. Sakakura wacked the back of one of the beast’s legs with the statue part. The blow sent the monster to its arms and knees, and Sakakura took this time to drop his weapon and climb on top of the first spear and then grab hold of the next one. 

The beast greatly disliked this action, and tried to buck him off like an angry bull. Sakakura held on tight, wrapping his arms completely around the spear. 

The monster decided to stand again, causing Sakakura to hang from the spear. Sakakura tried his best to climb to the top of the spear, but kept slipping. His main goal was to get to the head and attack that, but that was proving to be difficult.

Sakakura suddenly felt himself slipping. He tried to wrap his arms around the spear even tighter, but it didn’t help. He quickly realized that he himself wasn’t slipping, but the spear was.

Due to the monster’s jerky movements and Sakakura’s weight, the pillar-like spear left the beast’s body, leaving a huge, gaping hole in its place.

Sakakura fell and the spear fell on top of him, he heard the cracking again, and it took all of the air out of his lungs. 

Sakakura pushed the large object off him as he tried to recover from a coughing fit and the pain shooting through his chest. He looked over at the ape beast and noticed that the monster was also trying to recover; it was on its knees and moving its arms against its own chest wound as if it were in great pain. 

Sakakura decided it was time to end this. As the monster reeled in pain, Sakakura ran behind the creature again, grabbed the lower spear, and heaved until that too left the monster’s body. 

Sakakura watched as gallons of blood left the creature’s body. Eventually the ape beast screeched one last screech and then fell on its face with a loud thud. 

Sakakura let out a large breath he didn’t know he was holding after he was sure the creature was dead. He continued to stare at the monster, a slight feeling of guilt and wrongness inside him. This monster was supposed to be him, wasn’t it? And he just killed it. 

Maybe it wasn’t so wrong that he killed it, though? Maybe this thing was like an embodiment of his faults? Sakakura didn’t think loyalty was that much of a fault, but what about the rest of it? An ape-like monster (he remembered being called a ‘violent gorilla’ at some point in the past) that concealed it almost in its entirety and had even tried destroying parts of itself? Did…he do the same thing…?

Sakakura sighed, it was getting annoying trying to find symbolism in everything. He walked over to statue part that he dropped earlier and picked it up again. There was one more…

Just as he thought this, he thought he heard someone speak. Not from anyone’s mouth but within his mind:

**So you’ve defeated him…**  
Sakakura turned to see the distorted yet familiar face of the figure, standing next to the corpse of Sakakura’s monster. He thought he saw a hint of sadness in the devil’s face as it gazed upon its fallen friend, but it was quickly hidden as it looked back at him.

**Hmph, it doesn’t matter. Your victories end here.**

And then he raised his twin blades. Sakakura raised his own weapon. They both charged.

The figure prepared to do an overhead slash upon meeting with Sakakura, but, before they could get too close, Sakakura threw the statue part at the figure’s head. The figure dodged, but the action caused it to falter. Sakakura ran as fast as he could toward the monster and delivered swift uppercut to the creature’s chin. 

The figure’s head flew backwards and it stumbled. Sakakura tried to punch it again, but the monster ducked and threw its weight into Sakakura’s torso. Sakakura, once again, heard a sickening crack come from within him and he uncontrollably clutched his chest in agony. The monster then pulled back with one of its blades and sent it directly through the left side of Sakakura’s collarbone. It then used this leverage to throw Sakakura to the side, sending Sakakura rolling across the floor. 

Sakakura forgot how impossibly sharp those blades were, they did manage to remove his entire hand when they first met, and thought himself lucky that the monster’s last movement simply threw him instead of the blade slicing through his body. 

That didn’t mean Sakakura wasn’t in bad shape, however. Pain shot like lightning bolts through his shattered collarbone and his chest hurt like hell. Must have broken a few ribs between the last fight and this one. 

Sakakura had no time to rest however, as the figure had leapt toward him, landed next to him, and tried to spear both blades through Sakakura, but Sakakura managed to dodge by rolling out of the way. 

Sakakura stood and raised his fists as the figure unstuck its blades from the ground. For a moment, the two simply stared at each other, waiting for the other to attack first. 

Sakakura started moving sideways, hoping the figure would mimic his action and, luckily for him, it did. As the two circled each other Sakakura moved so that he was standing in front of the discarded statue part, that had landed a short distance away. 

Sakakura booked it, taking off toward the weapon. He grabbed it, swinging back up in front of him just in time to stop the figure’s incoming blade. 

The figure dished out blow after blow with its blades, with Sakakura blocking every one with the stone object. It did not last long, however, as after a particularly hard blow, the statue part shattered in Sakakura’s hands. And then, the figure used its other blade to spear right through Sakakura’s stomach.

Sakakura gaped like a fish. Pain shot through him along with a weird sense of déjà vu. The figure lifted one of its feet and kicked Sakakura off the blade and sent him backward slightly and onto the floor. 

Blood pooled itself underneath Sakakura’s body as he clutched at the wound, hoping to slow down the flow of it. He looked up at his opponent. The figure merely stood where was, staring down at Sakakura like he was an insect.

The figure took a step forward. Then another. Gnarled feet slowly made their way toward him. 

Sakakura sat up and began backing away, a combination of anger and fear welled within him. He moved his hand against the ground. It hit something metal. Sakakura looked. It was a small handgun.

Maybe it was the anger at the figure or the fear for his life, but Sakakura immediately stood. And with his left hand, pointed the gun at the figure.

He fired, but the shot missed. The figure had already leapt toward him, achieving an inhumane height. The blade came down, but Sakakura pulled in his arm and dodged out of the way and, when the figure landed, lifted the gun and shot directly into the back of the figure’s head. 

The figure landed on the ground face first. The figure, somehow still alive, floundered, trying to get up again, but to no avail. 

Sakakura readied the gun again, preparing to unload into the creature’s skull until it died, but then the figure looked up at him.

A bloody hole now adorned the monster’s cheek, and it looked like it was in pain. It looked like Munakata was in pain. Despite this creature’s misshapen face, it truly did still look like him. 

Sakakura began to second guess himself. Sakakura knew that, despite its looks, this thing definitely wasn’t Munakata. This thing was just a figment of his own imagination, of his own fears, but…what if Munakata truly thought the same things this thing did? What if, if Munakata found out about his feelings, he would hate him, think he was a perv or a deviant, just like the figure did? What if Munakata would think he was selfish and a dirty coward as well for letting Enoshima go for the reasons he did? The figure thought that, and nothing stopped the real Munakata from thinking it as well. 

This whole time he was fighting the monster, fighting his fears, but nothing was stopping these fears from becoming reality. 

Sakakura dropped to his knees in front of the figure. He showed it the gun, placed it on the ground, and slid it away across the floor as best he could.  
The figure seemed surprised as his actions, and simply stared at Sakakura while he spoke:

“The monsters from before, my monster and the statue monsters, they were just me getting my stupid hopes up, weren’t they? The statue monsters…telling me that there were some things I couldn’t change. My monster…telling me that it was bad to hide myself. Both of them were just me getting my hopes up that I’d be better off showing my true self and I would be accepted by Munakata and Yukizome regardless. 

But, you were trying to tell me the truth, weren’t you? With your test? You were trying to tell me that those hopes were meaningless. And if that’s the case, then I…I…”

While Sakakura was speaking, the monster had managed to stand up again. When he was done, Sakakura looked up at it for a moment before closing his eyes and gritting his teeth: something told him that, if he were to die now, he wouldn’t come back again.

Maybe then he would finally be done with this horrible place, and he would be met with the comfort of eternal darkness.

The figure lifted one of its blades for a killing blow. The figure then drew the blade across its own neck, blood began spurting from the wound, and then the creature fell, dead. 

Sakakura stared dumbfounded at the corpse in front of him. W-why? Why did it do that?

Suddenly, a light draped itself over Sakakura and the figure. Sakakura turned to see a bright light in the shape of a door off in the distance. Maybe it was the complete lack of light in this horrid place, because Sakakura was drawn to it. He stood, and, while clutching at his injuries, slowly made his way toward it. Right before he made it through, he gave one last look at the place before entering the light completely. 

oOo

Sakakura slowly opened his eyes. To his left, he could see an open window which revealed the sight of a blue sky along with birds chirping happily in a nearby tree. The curtains blew around slightly, and Sakakura could feel the soft breeze on his face. 

He looked to his right. A nightstand, a curtain, and an IV? Was he in the hospital?

Sakakura tried to sit up, but a pain in is midsection kept him from doing so. He resigned himself to just propping himself up slightly on his elbows.

It was then he noticed the person whose head was lying on the side of the bed. Their arms were wrapped around their head, covering their face, but Sakakura could still see the familiar mop of silvery, well-kept hair.

“K-Kyousuke?” asked Sakakura, mostly to himself. 

The person stirred and lifted their head, revealing their face. On one side, their eyelids had fused shut, but the face was still definitely Munakata’s. No longer misshapen, but the actual face of Munakata.

The face of the man he fell in love with.

Munakata looked over toward Sakakura’s face and his eye widened, “S-Sakakura?” he asked, “You’re awake?”

“I-I’m awake?” Sakakura asked back, looking down at himself. One of his hands was missing, the stump wrapped in clean bindings. His midsection hurt because of an unseen wound that was also covered in bandages. The left side of his collarbone had bindings around it as well. 

“You’ve been…in a coma for a long time now,” said Munakata, looking away sadly, “You woke up once, not too long ago, but then you seized and fell back into it.”

“A-a coma?” asked Sakakura, “I’m not…dead? But the killing-“

“I…thought you had died as well, but, while the future foundation building was being scoured for…the bodies of those that did not make it, our personnel found you, noticed that you were still breathing, and rushed you here.”

Sakakura took a while to process this new information. He…he wasn’t dead? He had just been in a coma this whole time? He wondered how he could have possibly survived, but decided it was pointless thinking about it. He thought back to the game itself. If he somehow survived, then…

“Yukizome?” Sakakura asked, but already knowing the answer.

“Yukizome…Chisa…did not make it,” Munakata said. Sakakura noticed tears forming in the other man’s eye. He shouldn’t have brought it up. 

The two sat in silence for a while, mourning the death of their good friend. After a few minutes, the two of them looked at each other again.

“I’m sorry.” “I’m sorry.”

They both seemed surprised at the other’s utterance. Sakakura spoke again first, “You have no reason to be sorry, Munakata. I…I failed you. It was my own stupid fault that-“

“No,” forcefully interrupted Munakata, “You did not deserve me trying to kill you. I…was not in my right mind, but that is no excuse. I apologize for what I’ve done to you, and I hope that you can find it within yourself to forgive me.”

“Forgive you?” asked Sakakura, but then he noticed Munakata’s eye. Tears were falling fast, and, suddenly, Munakata moved towards him and wrapped him arms around Sakakura’s neck.

“Hey, hey!” cried Sakakura, a blush forming on his cheeks. Sakakura then heard and felt sobs coming from Munakata and wrapped one of his arms around him lovingly. He said, “Hey, don’t act so out of character, alright? I forgive you. Of course I forgive you.”

It was then a nurse came in and, upon noticing Sakakura was awake, called for a doctor. Despite the doctor’s appearance, however, the two did not stop embracing.

Sakakura promised himself that, someday soon, he would tell Munakata the truth. He would tell him about why he let Enoshima go, and his feelings for him. He still feared that Munakata would no longer accept him as a friend if he were to tell him, but he knew he could no longer go on without telling him the truth.

Whether Munakata accepted him or not, Sakakura would live, and would continue to strive to change himself for the better.

But something told him, deep down inside, he had nothing to be afraid of.

**Author's Note:**

> Hello  
> This is my first fanfiction since middle school, so go easy on me...I hope its good...
> 
> I love Juzo and I really wanted to write something about him, and I ended up torturing him...I'm a horrible person.
> 
> Note about the seizure scene: I have a thing where I get seizures whenever I get too anxious or I panic, so I based it of my experiences with that. 
> 
> Also, my pictures aren't the best quality cuz I drew them on BIG PAPER which didn't fit in the scanner properly


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